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He played a Marine in Homeland, a pilot in Pacific Rim and now Canadian Diego Klattenhoff co-stars as an FBI agent in The Blacklist.

The critically acclaimed show was the biggest dramatic hit of the 2013 fall season, showing that network procedural police dramas could compete with the darker, serialized offerings of cable.

Klattenhoff, 34, plays FBI agent Donald Ressler, who tracks down a list of terrorists and most wanted criminals. He co-stars with James Spader and Megan Boone.

The actor is perhaps best known for his role as Mike Faber in the Showtime counterterrorism series Homeland (airing in Canada on Super Channel) and was on the big screen in the Toronto-shot science fiction blockbuster Pacific Rim.

Originally from French River, N.S., Klattenhoff got his start in acting after moving to Toronto when he was 19, where he lived for seven years. He studied theatre in the city and worked as a bartender to support himself before moving to Los Angeles.

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The Blacklist’s Season 2 fall finale airs Monday at 10 p.m. on Global.

When we last talked, The Blacklist hadn’t aired yet, so we didn’t have any reaction to how it would fare. Did you think it would be this big a hit?

I knew. It was just such a great quality script that I knew it would succeed. They put so much care into that show.

Going into the mid-season finale your character is in a pretty dark place. He’s battling addiction while trying to stay alive in a high-stress job. What can we expect as we move into the second half of the season?

There are certain things that will bubble to the surface. Ressler isn’t as clean cut as everyone thought he would be. These are some tortured times. You see the drug addictions haunting him and a much more three-dimensional character emerges from this. But honestly, I have absolutely zero knowledge of what will happen to him, or in the real world and in my own life sometimes.

You have been in two major franchises, Homeland and The Blacklist, that have a bad habit of killing off characters. Do you ever look over your shoulder on set and think when is it going to be my day?

You have to think about it. But all you can do is do a great job week to week. And leave your best work on set. If it’s your time it’s your time. And you have to trust that the job is going to come to an end and then you find another job. That’s the way it’s always going to be as an actor. Who knows when the magic bullet is coming my way? I would love to be on the show for as long as they want me. But I’m not going to live my life in fear of getting taken out.

That sounds a lot like how Ressler would respond. He’s also taking a lot of punishment onscreen. How are you holding up to the physical challenge of fighting terrorists and global scumbags?

It’s all in the makeup. It’s also eating your Wheaties and trying not to get hurt in the mean time. It’s a great show for the physicality. But there’s also a real pleasure to be able to do a show like this. Rarely do you get this kind of opportunity to get this kind of high-quality program in television.

People still remember you from your role as Uncle Mike in Homeland. I know your plate is full. But any chance of you going back for a guest-starring role?

Who knows? There might be a scenario where Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes of Homeland) might need to call on Mike Faber. I would love to go back and do whatever I can. It was a tremendous experience working with everyone over there. They won all those rewards for a reason. So I would welcome it. I would have to see what would happen with the schedule. But they’re doing OK without me right now.

Speaking about awards, The Blacklist, despite being considered by many critics as one of the best dramas on network TV, didn’t get nominated for an Emmy in the first year. Do you think the show was snubbed and if so, why?

I think we’re being recognized enough. Who needs an award to tell you how great you are? I just have to look in the mirror. Just kidding! At the end of the day it’s about making entertaining television and have them watch the show, and that’s what people are doing. We live in a different world where there are so many different platforms it’s very hard to put them all in the same category. And we’re all using different rules; some shows are shooting eight, some are shooting 10 episodes. We’re shooting 22 episodes. Our rules allow us to go to a broader audience, but when it comes down to winning certain awards I think we’re at a disadvantage. But if you place all that importance on winning that one award you’re kind of missing the boat.

You’re back in Toronto where you first got the acting bug. The city’s changed a lot. We have a new mayor now.

To be honest I don’t even know who the new mayor is. Hadn’t really figured the specs on the new guy. All I know is that there isn’t a Ford in office. I think you Toronto Star guys had something to do with it, right? It’s great to be back here though. I love it. I have great memories from being here and starting out in the business, and just coming here and seeing how the city has changed over the years is amazing. I have some great friends here. And Toronto is the birthplace of this acting thing. It started with a good old friend of mine that I took an acting workshop with. And I had nothing better to do with my life, so I kind of ran away and joined the circus.

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